Abstract

Surveillance activity may take the form of visual surveillance using CCTV, electronic surveillance ofpeople (e.g. tagging of offenders) and items of property (e.g. tracking devices in vehicles) and voicesurveillance (e.g. voice recognition software).Surveillance can also be targeted at individuals (potential victims of crime, offenders), items ofproperty worn or carried by individuals (e.g. clothing, bags), other property (e.g. buildings, vehicles,goods) and places (towns centres, residential areas).The effective deployment of surveillance in crime prevention involves a complex set of interrelationshipsbetween the technical capabilities of the equipment (e.g. facial recognition CCTV,prediction of behaviour from peoples’ gesture and gait, automatic flagging of suspicious objects),contextual factors (e.g. terrain, land use, social environment), management and training and cruciallythe response of those subjected to surveillance (offenders, victims, bystanders, local residents). Thenthere is the crucial area of how the recipients of surveillance data interpret what they see and hear(cognition) and how they use this knowledge to communicate with other agencies (e.g. the police andemergency services).Consideration of civil liberties and human rights pervade all stages of the surveillance process andimplicitly bring with them new and largely unexplored concepts and notions such as ‘ethicaltargeting’ and responsible surveillance.This presentation will explore some of the assumptions that underpin surveillance from a crimeprevention perspective. It will discuss the feasibility of developing a theoretical framework for thedeployment, response and evaluation of surveillance activity aimed at deterring and preventing crime.Particular attention will be paid to the role theory plays in different stages of the surveillance process(problem diagnosis, choice of technology, targeting, use, response and evaluation).